A Perplexing Choice (NexusOne Prices and iPhone Comparisons)

eWeek released an article a couple days ago about NexusOne prices – $530 unlocked, $179 with a 2 year contract from T-Mobile.  In short, similar to the iPhone with AT&T, but with a less appealing carrier.

This makes for a perplexing choice for the new year – iPhone, Droid or NexusOne?  While iPhone has been somewhat handicapped by AT&T’s reputation for service (which is not as much of a handicap as claimed), the Droid has been somewhat handicapped by a poor execution of a physical keyboard.

Of course, the Droid, released for Verizon not long ago, is also an Android phone.  But while the price is comparable to the iPhone and NexusOne, the features of the phone are purportedly inferior to both and the carrier superior to both.

So if the NexusOne costs about the same, but uses an inferior network, how do you compare the three?  The reality is that while it may be a toss-up, most iPhone users are quite pleased with the device itself, and probably not really irate about the service.  At least, not irate enough.  Besides, not everyone is going to be at the end of their 2 year contract, or interested in shelling out $500-600 for a new phone.

For the short term, the choice between these three will likely only face off contract or brand new mobile buyers.  But still, are the NexusOne’s features compelling enough for iPhone users to switch?

TechCrunch ran an article on December 12, 2009 about the phone, and here’s another.  You’ll notice that details are surprisingly slim, but that comparisons to HTC phones are strong.  A better question though, is, “Can Google really create a substantially more compelling phone than Apple’s?”  Not a better phone, but one that is obviously better to a brand new, unexperienced user.

Maybe.  But unlikely.   Aesthetically, the phone seems to have few improvements, and Apple has consistently addressed weaknesses and opportunities (video, removable SIM, etc.) in its phone.  This article also asks the interesting question, which will be shortly answered, as to whether any carrier could handle the data intensive smart phone user of the future better than Apple.

Apple has cracked a lot of issues that had plagued the smart phone genre in its infancy, and have a lot of very enthusiastic users.  NexusOne will likely have an uphill climb.